By
Rebecca Gibson |
A number of amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) and the 1988 Load Lines Protocol entered into force on 1 January 2014.
Designed to improve shipping safety, the SOLAS amendments cover a range of aspects and require ship owners and operators to:
• Install onboard stability computers or shore-based support onboard all new passenger ships to provide the ship master with operational information for a safe return to port after a flooding casualty
• Test the operation of all free-fall lifeboat release systems by either a free-fall launch with only operating crew onboard, or by a simulated launch
• Establish appropriate minimum safe manning levels following a transparent procedure, taking into account the guidance adopted by IMO (Assembly resolution A.1047(27) on Principles of minimum safe manning). They must also issue an appropriate minimum safe manning document or equivalent as evidence of the minimum safe manning considered necessary
• Prohibit the blending of bulk liquid cargoes during the sea voyage and to prohibit production processes onboard ships
• Adhere to the mandatory International Code on the Enhanced Programme of Inspections during Surveys of Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers, 2011 (2011 ESP Code, resolution A.1049(27)).
Revised MARPOL Annex III Regulations for the prevention of pollution by harmful substances carried by sea in packaged form, include changes to the Annex to coincide with the next update of the mandatory International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code. This specifies that goods should be shipped in accordance with relevant provisions.
In addition, the United States Caribbean Sea Emission Control Area (ECA) came into effect on 1 January. The regulation introduced stricter controls on emissions of sulphur oxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter for ships trading in certain waters adjacent to the coasts of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.
Amendments to regulation 47 of the 1988 Protocol to the International Convention on Load Lines 1966 to shift the Winter Seasonal Zone off the southern tip of Africa further southward by 50 miles, also came into effect at the beginning of January.